‘The Equalizer’: Rough justice on criminal scum
Washington drives The Equalizer, an updated, ultraviolent take on the 1980s TV series starring Edward Woodward.
Denzel Washington and Chloë Grace Moretz in The Equalizer
The Equalizer [rating=2.5]
Starring Denzel Washington, Chloë Grace Moretz
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Denzel Washington doesn’t have to say a word. He can do more with a move, a head tilt, a shot of fire in the eye than most actors do with pages of dialogue. That’s a star, baby. Washington drives The Equalizer, an updated, ultraviolent take on the 1980s TV series starring Edward Woodward. Now it’s Washington’s turn to step into the role of retired special-ops agent Robert McCall. He uses a job at a Boston Home Depot-like store as a cover while he heaps rough justice on criminal scum.
The material shows its age when McCall goes all Taxi Driver to save a teen hooker (a scrappy Chloë Grace Moretz) from her pimps. But Washington and director Antoine Fuqua, who teamed for the actor’s Oscar-winning role in 2001’s Training Day, keep the action humming. The film runs long, at 131 minutes, but the takedown of a psycho Russian fixer (Marton Csokas) is sweet agony, and Washington, as ever, is the essence of cool.
